| Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS combined strength of all allied power concentrated for three pronged thrust on hillers Hit lers jittery german stronghold new plan devised for pacific strategy EDITORS NOTE when opinions re expressed in these columns they are those of western newspaper unions news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper released by western newspaper union AY INLAND V SWEDEN aej S LATVIA R I 1 ini G EA BRITAIN iata N TH tl i 4 11 1 2 t P P C FRANCE SW TZ Z H N AR A VIA ITALY WP r I 1 LI L ALBANIA A GREECE big three map sledge hammer blows vs axis from north south and am east as illustrated on map see statesmen confer STATESMEN CONFER map hap war strategy with the big four pledged to the destruction of germany and japan all eyes turned to bairos historic mena house where turkeys ismet inona met with president roosevelt and prime minister churchill to discuss his count rys role in the war even as the statesmen met in the shadow of egypto massive pyramids germany played her hand massing mechanized forces against turkeys balkan border in an obvious effort to influence the turks position and churchill met with inona following their three day conference with premier stalin of russia in teheran persia where the big three pledged a finish fight against germany from the east west and south and established the basis for a democratic community of nations meeting previously with chinas cainas generalissimo chiang kai shek and churchill had vowed to force unconditional surrender on the japs and restore all territory the nipponese have overrun since 1894 hurry invasion barges twenty thousand manufacturing firms have been given a special priority for the production of invasion sion craft and ordered to speed up deliveries during the fore part of 1944 As was the case prior to the U S invasion inva sion of north africa ers have been given precedence over planes high octane gasoline and other urgency production programs and the navy has curtailed orders for destroyer escorts to provide additional facilities for constructing the self propelled landing barp barges S amphibious phi bious trucks tank landing vessels etc after being given the go ahead before the north african operate operations lops shipbuilders ship builders turned out mill million 1 on dollars worth of invasion craft in five months ITALY nazis nazis line sags fighting over muddy slopes U S troops gained foggy mountain heights overlooking the road to rome and along the adriatic to the east gen bernard eighth army punched its wa way 7 up a coastal strip toward the highway hub of pescara although the nazis winter line sagged in some sectors under the steady pressure of allied infantry and artillery it te recoiled coiled in others and on the U S front the germans clung to the pass at mignano affording access to the road to rome while on the british front the enemy massed tp check the tommies commies farther inland fighting bravely in the rain U S doughboys Dough boys with packs clambered up rocky slopes even too steep for mule supply teams WAR MANPOWER cut needs against the new workers which the war manpower commission estimated would be needed in the munitions industries by july 1944 only actually will be required but military demands remain unchanged because of changes in munitions requirements and the high rate of production achieved said workers will be sufficient to meet schedules of the new workers most will be recruited from women under 45 to achieve their goal of men by next july the army and navy will actually call more than during the year as first planned said discharges and casualties will create a bigger drain to keep the ranks at full strength draft calls during january and february will continue at the current rate of to per month SOLDIERS VOTE states control killing the lucas III green R I 1 bill allowing soldiers overseas to vote under federal supervision the senate adopted V and sent to the house a measure inspired by senator james E eastland miss leaving election rules up to the states under East lands A proposal states ea 11 were asked to pass legislation allowing vets abroad to vote in local state and i federal elections by senat senator james establishing a system E eastland land of postcard applications for absentee ballots to be distributed by air mail free included in the measure was an amendment by senator robert taft ohio assuring all parties of equal shares of campaign publicity SOUTHWEST PACIFIC macarthurs Mac Arthurs new deiv plan while U S and australian troops slowly hacked their way through southwest pacific jungles gen douglas macarthur macarthurs Mac Arthurs S representative at the cairo conference revealed the generals new master plan for defeating the japanese macarthurs Mac Arthurs plan calls for capture of the rich east indies cutting off the japs principal source of oil for their mechanized forces and otherwise slashing their long supply lines to the home islands to achieve this objective macarthur has sought to lure the big jap fleet out into the open for a finish fight but the wily nipponese have evaded battle preferring to remain close to bases under air cover or behind reefy coral barriers CORN boost ceilings to stimulate the flow of corn into inta terminal ermina I 1 markets OPA raised ceilings by nine cents and then froze froza prices of oats barley and sorghum grains preparatory to establishing permanent re valuations in boosting corn ceilings OPA said it was complying with the emergency price control act which stipulates that maximum prices for a commodity shall reflect parity under the new tops no 2 corn will sell at at chicago and milwaukee at minneapolis and st paul at st louis at karsas city and st joseph at peoria at omaha at duluth and superior at sioux city and at nashville action on oats barley and sor chums resulted from steadily advancing feed prices because of the sag in corn marketing OPA said rising prices iacre increased ased costs for poultry and livestock and dairy farmers OPA declared feed imports to meet demands for feed grains in the U S a minimum of bushels will have to be imported if poultry and livestock goals are to be achieved in 1944 war food administration estimated at the same time the association of american railroads revealed that 50 additional freight cars were being made available daily to canadian lines for hauling grain mainly into utah and the southeast capable of moving bushels a month these cars are in addition to the 1000 in use in the northwest As of december 4 commodity credit corporation announced the U S had purchased bushels of canadian wheat of which already have been imported by rail and water banned in 19 1942 suspender buttons have been ordered restored to work pants by the war production board FLU seasonal increase with the number of influenza cases in the U S five times under that of 1941 and deaths from the sickness in great britain far below the proportions of 1937 the world presently faces no flu epidemic comparable to that of 1918 when died so said a spokesman for the U S public health service however he cautioned that persons suffering from colds grippe and flu remain at home to prevent spreading the illness nes especially in view of the shortage of doctors and nurses and the difficulty imposed in handling many patients in the U S the spokesman termed the rising rate of influenza cases as a normal seasonal increase while he pointed out that the deaths in great britaina Brit ains large cities for a single week recently fell far short 0 of f the 2000 recorded weekly during the epidemic of 1937 RUSSIA new army while german military commentators co m men reported that the ru russians asians were moving up a whole newly equipped army to continue their winter offensive the reds followed their traditional tactics of conducting large scale attacks all along miles of front in an effort to break through a weak spot their drive beyond gomel slowed with the reorganization of german troops withdrawn from advance positions the reds opened u up p a heavy offensive in the bend above the industrial centers of krivoa rog and Ni kopol where the nazis have held their ground for several months in this sector the reds poured troops onto the western banks of the at two points and in the fighting that ensued they sought to crush german forces wedged between them 0 a a sales in filling stations in 1943 will approximate 23 billion dollars compared with 3 billion in 1912 1942 and the peak at 31 billion in 1941 NATIONAL BANKS assets in billions rich in natural resources the U S is equally rich in finance with total assets of national banks approximating 66 billion dollars figures show private deposits of 40 billion dollars U S deposits of almost 11 billion municipal and state deposits of 2 aa billion loans and discounts of 10 3 billion dollars investments in U S securities of 35 billion dollars holdings of other stocks bonds and securities of 3 billion million of which 2 b billion ion represents state and other political obligations 1 capital stock of the banks totals tot als 1 billion dollars with surplus undivided billions profits and reserves oi of 2 |
